The thesis statement is the driving force behind your entire paper of project. It tells your reader the topic, your opinion, and how you will prove your position. The thesis statement is the most important sentence of your paper, as all others must directly related back to it. Once you have developed a thesis statement, you can map out the rest of your paper with an outline. The outline will keep your paper on track and on topic, and help you see how your research and details fit together. An outline can be key to easing the complex process of writing an MLA paper.